Skip to main content

Figure skating competition 2012 - 2013 will be coming soon !


This season’s figure skating competition sounds interesting !

I haven’t been watching most of skating competitions since last Olympics ( Vancouver Olympics 2010 ), only US Nationals and a few skaters , but always checked the results for all the senior events for men and ladies.

But it’s excited to know that some skaters who were taking breaks are returning to competitions this season such as Johnny Weir, Evan Lysacek ( both took breaks since last Olympics ) and also Evgeny Plushenko. For ladies, Miki Ando and Yu na Kim.

Things are changing every season, I wonder how they will compete with present top skaters.

I started watching men’s skating since 2006 Torino Olympics and I still love those days top skaters especially the ones who skated in the finale group in the free program. ( Evgeny Plushenko, Stephane Lambiel, Johnny Weir, Jeffrey Buttle, Brian Joubert, Daisuke Takahashi )

I was shocked to see these charismatic unique skaters in the men’s skating world, I didn’t know there is such a wonderful world in Olympics sports ! 

These skaters plus Emanuel Sandhu are still my all time favorite men’s skaters even though some of them already retired.

We were re-watching the Torino Olympics men’s finale group and also World championships 2006 last night.

We watched the recording tape since 2006 so many times.

And while watching the recording tape for world championships 2006 which was held in Calgary in Canada, there was Brian Boitano and Brian Orser’s interview about their past world championships competition which was also held in Canada, called the “ Battle of the Brians “.

Brian Botaino was saying about that competition,

 “ the Canadian audience was expecting Brian Orser to win. Figure skating is political so it was his turn to get the medal, and I was not supposed to win this competition.” 

Brian Botaino skated clean, and Brian Orser had one very minor mistake but not so big deal as to not win the competition.

 In most competitions, whichever skater’s “turn” it is, whoever is favored for political reasons, wins, and so Boitano said “ it was miracle I won it.”

He is calmly understanding that figure skating competition is a political game.

I wonder how many skaters are understanding it and compete, even while knowing it ?

Since Vancouver Olympics, it was all cleared it up for me, so I don’t watch figure skating competition like before anymore, and won’t take it seriously.
It’s a game.

　
Johnny Weir - Anyone who has ever read my past posts can see I was a fanatic fan of Johnny Weir’s skating. He is still my top favorite skater.

I love his beautiful artistry , the way he moves on ice and his expression and emotion. I often thought depending on his program music, choreography, costume ( plus hairstyle ), he can show killer performance.

He was doing Quad -Triple- double combination jumps effortlessly around 2005 - 2006 during the practice.

His performances of programs like Otonal and Ex number My Way were the ones which made me his fan.

No one was talking about “ transitions “ at that time, which is one of the Presentation elements .

And I noticed that his programs had transitions naturally, the whole thing was a story-telling program all through while he was working with his previous coach Priscilla Hill .

There were programs I liked after Johnny started working with coach Galina since 2007 - 2008 season. 

While I think his movements got even more detailed and perhaps even improved some sensitivity, and his footwork improved, overall I liked his jumps quality ( his jumps seemed more natural and flowing) and his style more when he was working with Pricilla Hill and also liked his programs more, there was no empty part and it was more story telling naturally.

I love his skating, but not crazy for Galina’s programs, so my feeling is complicated. Her costume tastes for him has been good though.

His short Program for this season I’ve heard seems to be Lady Ga Ga’s Poker Face. I’m not sure for his Free Program music.

I wish him all the best. I respect his braveness he took returning to competition. And I will enjoy his beautiful skating. He makes competition interesting.

　
Daisuke Takahashi - Morozov asked Daisuke Takahashi to come back to work with him and they started working together and I’m also curious.

I’ve heard that Daisuke’s long program theme is to act the part of a clown. He can be a great actor on ice with his natural dynamic artistry.

Personally, I want him to skate with “ Symphony No. 25 in G minor “ by Mozart.

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart - Symphony No.25 in G minor

 I can’t think of any other skater who can handle this music, or who would fit better with this music . 

It requires super speedy, complicated step sequences, with dynamic artistic moves, who can naturally express it with body language and emotion, with great choreography which has drama ( Kenji Miyamoto ).

This music has huge impact so I suppose Judges would love this music.

It would be great if Daisuke skates with this music in Olympics season !

Now a days, its almost like quad jumps are required element in men’s skating competitions. If skaters have no quad, then forget about to get gold (?) . 

Things changed after last Olympics.

Johnny Weir, Daisuke Takahashi, Evgeny Plushenko, Brian Joubert are all my favorite skaters, and always interesting to watch.

Also very curious to see how Evan Lysacek will compete with Plushenko, Patrick Chan, Daisuke Takahashi in Worlds ( I ‘m guessing he will get the free pass to worlds ) and also in US Nationals, the fight between Johnny Weir vs. Evan Lysacek vs. Jeremy Abbott.

Yuzuru Hanyu may be Daisuke’s biggest rival in Japanese skaters now . Yuzuru beat Daisuke in Free Program last World Championships ( but overall total, Daisuke placed above because of his high SP score with awesome performance .)

I love Yuzuru’s technical part of his skating, such as triple axel jump and quad jump, and spins.  Artistically, his movements remind me of Johnny’s, when Johnny was a junior skater. 

Yuzuru is still young, so he has a lot of potential to improve his artistry in the future.

Patrick Chan’s quad jumps are getting more and more consistent every event. He has three quads. One for SP and two for FP. 

His program looks difficult. He has been judge’s favorite especially his presentation marks. Mechanical movements, but suits with COP system which is not necessary to have natural artistic movements and emotion.

I’m pretty sure he is the number one favorite to win Next Olympics gold medal. Two falls or three falls are not big problem with judges, when it comes to him to win.

I still can not figure out why he is getting such high Presentation scores with a lot of falls. But his mind-setting must be super strong. 

He made this reality happen. Whether audience booed or criticized him, he is not influenced by it, and having strong confidence.

Plushenko and Patrick Chan’s minds are very strong. Lysacek may be strong as well when it comes to world competition.


For ladies,

I’m not sure what Miki Ando has decided , since I haven’t heard she has a new coach after she left from her previous coach Morozov.

But if she will really compete this season, it will be interesting to watch her program which was choreographed by Stephane Lambiel.

But wonder, is she still without a coach ??

I’m also curious Yu na Kim’s Vampire & Le Miserable programs. Seems like she will only compete in World Championships same as 2 years ago.


Here are the entries, skater’s lists and schedule for the events I’m interested in.


Japan Open - October 6 ( at 7pm )

Japan - Daisuke Takahashi, Takahiko Kozuka, Mao Asada, Akiko Suzuki

North America - Patrick Chan, Jeffrey Buttle, Ashley Wagner, Agnes Zawadjki

Europe - Evgeny Plushenko, Michal Brezina, Alena Leonova, Elene Gedevanishvili



　
Finlandia Trophy 2012 - October 5 to 7

MEN

Samuel Koppel EST
Matthias Versluis FIN
Viktor Zubik FIN
Valtter Virtanen FIN
Julian Lagus FIN
Paolo Bacchini ITA
Yuzuru Hanyu JPN
Kenta Nakamura JPN
Maciej Cieplucha POL
Zhan Bush RUS
Javier Fernandez ESP
Javier Raya ESP
Adrian Schultheiss SWE
Mikael Redin SUI
Ricky Dornbush USA
Johnny Weir USA
Misha Ge UZB

LADIES

Ira Vannut BEL
Jasmine Costa EST
Kiira Korpi FIN
Juulia Turkkila FIN
Alisa Mikonsaari FIN
Beata Papp FIN
Fleur Maxwell LUX
Yulia Lipnitskaya RUS
Sonia Lafuente ESP
Isabelle Olsson SWE
Natalia Popova UKR
Mirai Nagasu USA


　
Grand Prix Events

Skate America - October 19 - 21 ( Seattle, WA, USA )

MEN

Michal BREZINA CZE
Tomas VERNER CZE
Yuzuru HANYU JPN
Takahiko KOZUKA JPN
Tatsuki MACHIDA JPN
Konstantin MENSHOV RUS
Alexander MAJOROV SWE
Jeremy ABBOT USA
Evan LYSACEK USA
Douglas RAZZANO USA

LADIES

Mae Berenice MEITE FRA
Sarah HECKEN GER
Valentina MARCHEI ITA
Haruka IMAI JPN
Alena LEONOVA RUS
Adelina SOTNIKOVA RUS
Viktoria HELGESSON SWE
Rachael FLATT USA
Christina GAO USA
Ashley WAGNER USA
 

 　
Skate Canada - October 26 - 28 ( Windsor, Ontario, Canada )

Men

Patrick Chan CAN
Elladj BALDE CAN
Liam FIRUS CAN
Florent AMODIO FRA
Takahito MURA JPN
Nobunari ODA JPN
Denis TEN KAZ
Artur GACHINSKI RUS
Javier FERNANDEZ ESP
Ross MINER USA

Ladies

Amelie LACOSTE CAN
Kaetlyn OSMOND CAN
Elene GEDEVANISHVILI GEO
Kanako MURAKAMI JPN
Akiko SUZUKI JPN
Ksenia MAKAROVA RUS
Polina SHELEPEN RUS
Elizaveta TUKTAMYSHEVA RUS
Gracie GOLD USA
Caroline ZHANG USA

　
 
Cup of China - November 2 - 4 ( Shanghai, China )

Men

Kevin REYNOLDS CAN
Jinlin GUAN CHN
Nan SONG CHN
Yi Wang CHN
Brian JOUBERT FRA
Tatsuki MACHIDA JPN
Daisuke TAKAHASHI JPN
Artur DMITRIEV RUS
Sergei VORONOV RUS
Adam RIPPON USA
　
Ladies

Bingwa GENG CHN
Zijun LI CHN
Kexin ZHANG CHN
Kiira KORPI FIN
Yretha SILETE FRA
Miki Ando JPN
Mao Asada JPN
Julia LIPNITSKAIA RUS
Joshi HELGESSON SWE
Mirai Nagasu JPN



Rostelecom Cup 2012 - November 9 - 11 ( Moscow, Russia )

Men

Patrick Chan CAN
Michal BREZINA CZE
Takahiko Kozuka JPN
Nobunari Oda JPN
Denis Ten KAZ
Zhan BUSH RUS
Artur GACHINSKI RUS
Konstantin MENSHOV RUS
Richard DORNBUSH USA
Johnny Weir USA

Ladies

Kiira KORPI FIN
Valentina MARCHEI ITA
Kanako MURAKAMI JPN
Polina KOROBEYNIKOVA RUS
Alena LEONOVA RUS
Adelina SOTNIKOVA RUS
Viktoria HELGESSON SWE
Gracie GOLD USA
Agnes ZAWADZKI USA
Caroline ZHANG USA
 


Trophee Eric Bompard - November 16 - 18 ( Paris, France )

Men

Jorik HENDRICKX BEL
Jinlin GUAN CHN
Nan SONG CHN
Tomas VERNER CZE
Florent AMODIO FRA
Brian JOUBERT FRA
Romain PONSART FRA
Takahito MURA JPN
Jeremy ABBOTT USA
Johnny Weir USA

Ladies

Kexin ZHANG CHN
Lena MARROCCO FRA
Mae Berenice MEITE FRA
Yretha SILETE FRA
Miki Ando JPN
Polina KOROBEYNIKOVA RUS
Julia LIPNITSKAIA RUS
Elizaveta TUKTAMYSHEVA RUS
Christina GAO USA
Ashley WAGNER USA



NHK Trophy - November 23 - 25 ( Miyagi, Japan )

Men

Kevin REYNOLDS CAN
Andrei ROGOZINE CAN
Yuzuru HANYU JPN
Daisuke MURAKAMI JPN
Daisuke TAKAHASHI JPN
Sergei VORONOV RUS
Javier FERNANDEZ ESP
Richard DORNBUSH USA
Ross MINER USA
Adam RIPPON USA

Ladies

Zijun LI CHN
Elene GEDEVANISHVILI GEO
Mao ASADA JPN
Haruka IMAI JPN
Akiko SUZUKI JPN
Sofia BIRYUKOVA RUS
Ksenia MAKAROVA RUS
Polina SHELEPEN RUS
Alissa CZISNY USA
Agnes ZAWADZKI USA


Grand Prix Finale - December 6 - 9 ( Sochi, Russia )
　
　
Japanese Nationals - Dec 20-24, 2012 ( Sapporo, Japan )

Russian Nationals - Dec 24-28, 2012 ( Sochi, Russia )

Canadian Nationals - Jan 13-20, 2013 ( Mississauga, Ontario, Canada )

US Nationals - Jan 20-27, 2013 ( Omaha, Nebraska )

European Championships - Jan 21-27, 2013 ( Zagreb, Croatia )

Four Continents - Feb 6-11, 2013 ( Osaka, Japan )

World Figure skating Championships - March 10-17, 2013 ( London, Ontario )
　
　

　
Labels:

Popular posts from this blog

Who was The Mysterious Masked Messenger who visited Mozart ?

Perhaps the most mysterious legend about Mozart is that of the " Masked Messenger ". This mysterious masked messenger is also known historically as the "Man in Gray" , "The Mysterious Messenger" , "The Gray Messenger". The story of the masked messenger was featured prominently in the movie “ Amadeus ".           Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart How much of this story is true ? When Mozart died in the early morning hours of December 5, 1791, he left his final masterpiece, the Requiem , unfinished. A few months later, a completed score of the Requiem was delivered to its anonymous commissioner. How was the Requiem completed and how would Mozart have completed it had he lived? These mysteries have tantalized musicians for over two centuries. Mozart received the commission to compose the Requiem from the “ Mysterious Messenger" in the summer of 1791.  The Messenger paid half the commission in advance,
Read more

Health tips from an extra-terrestrial named Bashar - from a planet called Essassani

photo credit: skyseeker Mt. Fuji via photopin (license)    Today,  I would like to write about health tips from an extra-terrestrial being named Bashar who is from the Essassani Planet .     He is channeled by Darryl Anka. Planet earth used to have beautiful clear air, but since a long time ago the air has been polluted everywhere.    and the cause of most illnesses comes from the poison in the environment we are in, with the polluted air. Nowadays, it's hard to find places where there is beautiful clean air. and in this unfavorable environment, he is suggesting how to live healthy.   Health tips 1.  Clear Oxygen  According to Bashar,  the air after storms and typhoons have gone away, is the most clean ( purified ) and is good for our bodies. However when there is an overdose of artificial oxygen by using tools such as oxygen tanks , this can cause a lack of water, and will weaken cells.   So clean natural water needs to be used in a balanced amo
Read more

Sweet Food which does not get fat - Warabi mochi

I recently love eating this sweet food that Japanese call " Warabi mochi " which is made of 0 calories food psyllium in my coffee break time.   It's sweet food but I use Lakanto Monk Fruit Sweetener instead of sugar when I make it. Lakanto Monk Fruit sweetener is 0 calorie s and 0 glycemic and very similar taste as normal sugar. It is said it's derived from monk fruit, which looks like a small green gourd native to regions of China and Thailand.  It's not artificial so it is not bad for health so I feel comfortable eating it. Warabi mochi is a food which is normally made of Kinako ( soybean flour) & sugar & warabi powder and it's one of my favorite foods. However it's high calorie foods so if I eat a lot, it's easy to gain weight.   Because Warabi mochi flour is Starch and has sugar in it and is high calorie.  So I was not eating it. and then recently I found the recipe of diet Warabi Mochi which is made of Psyllium
Read more

Beauty skin care, Ninon de L'Enclos ‘s Secret of her young skin

Besides extra virgin olive oil, I’ve been doing a mixture of another great natural formula since two weeks ago. This information came from Ray who happened to find about Ninon de L’Enclos ’s amazing story concerning her youthful skin. According to the article, Ninon de L’ Enclos is known as a famous French beauty from the late 1600s. She kept her youthful skin until 85 years old when she passed away. Even in to her 80’s she was attracting many young men who fell hopelessly in love with her. She never published her secret of her youthful skin until the end , only telling her special friends about her secret formula. There is no photo of her, but seeing her painting in other websites, she looks in her 30’s when she was 85. According to the article, her face was as smooth and free of winkles in her 80’S as it had been at 20. She hated wrinkles and successfully kept her skin youthful , using her special secret formula. This information blew me away, and immediately
Read more

Franz Liszt and Frederic Chopin’s friendship Part 1

Frederyk Chopin   I’m a long time fan of Chopin’s music since when I was a teenager. Started loving his music from hearing his Polonaise , then Noctunes , Etudes … Frederyk Chopin I was using one of Chopin’s Nocturnes as my background music for my answering machine when I was in my 20s. In Japan, many of his music is famous and used in many TV dramas, commercials, movies, and mostly wealthy bourgeois family scenes. My image of many of Chopin ’s music that I’ve listened to is of a cozy, bourgeois world. From almost all his music I’ve ever heard, I often pictured an elegant, wealthy family’s world or a story about a family who are living in a luxury antique style house. Many of Mozart ’s music reminds me of a social life in an older generation, a story about bourgeois world in a gorgeous luxury palace. For Liszt ’s music, his music is very variety, ranging from an image of a sweet passionate love story for couples, all the way to nightmare horror story type of mu
Read more

Franz Liszt’s dangerous love

  Franz Liszt was quite tall in his generation, standing 6 feet 2 inches tall , long blonde hair , piercing sharp eyes, pianist' long narrow and delicate hands and fingers. His body build was very slender. People who knew him described his personality as full of charm, charisma, and very knowledgeable.  And he loved brainy women. He was the consummate artist. It seems that Liszt loved dangerous love , which thrilled him and gave him excitement rather than a stable, peaceful , safe love. Franz Liszt While reading about his biography, I was wondering why he fell in love with two princesses who were already married. Marie D’Agoult He seems to have had a lot of love affairs in his life, someone found out that he had at least 26 serious relationships in his life ( besides countless other affairs ) but the only ladies he thought about marriage was with these two princesses , Marie D’Agoult and Carolyne Sayn Wittgenstein ? Charlotte Von Hagn L
Read more

My favorite ways of Law of Attraction Part 3 - Successful Wishing - Pierre Franckh

Pierre Franckh’s books “ Successful Wishing “ are another of my favorite books.     There are series, 1 to 6 , and are not published in English , but I did find them in a Japanese book store,  translated by a Japanese translator.   Pierre Franckh is a German actor ( Movies & TV) from 1959 – 2003, and is also a movie director and a writer.  Since 1996, he published many books and became a best selling author.  Franckh wrote based on his personal experiences from when he was a child . I love the way how he writes , it’s very easy to read and direct to the point, very clear how to do it with step by step instruction. Also importance of finding what you truly want.    Many people are actually not realizing what they really want and then when they get what they wanted,  still not feeling satisfied. Pierre said that before making your wishes and order to universe, it’s important to clear up what you really want and ask to yourself, why you w
Read more

Organic foods and healthy living “ You are what you eat ? “

We‘ve been enjoying organic foods since a month ago.   Because we care for our health and also organic foods taste more delicious than normal vegetables.   Recently, I really feel the famous quote  “ You are what you eat . “   is true.   Although healthy life comes from balance between mind, body, skin care, good night sleep and activities besides food life .   Health is a treasure.   Also I realized that “ good blood circulation ” is one of the most important key to keep healthy and look young skin.   After being amazed to see Styx’s ageless Tommy Shaw on TV, I started searching about “ secret of youth “.  He looks so much younger than his age.  Also, there was an interview with Styx on CNN in the morning about a week ago and they talked about what they think are the keys to longevity and a healthy life. http://www.cnn.com/video/?/video/bestoftv/2012/04/23/exp-kyra-phillips-age-against-the-machine.cnn  
Read more

”The secret to creativity is knowing how to hide your sources.”　- Albert Einstein　

Originally we were all creative because all children are creative. While growing up, many children lose their creativity by seeing, reading, hearing what many grown ups do and teach. According to a book called " Goal " by Brian Tracy, "Fully 95% of children tested between the ages of three and five are rated as highly creative. Of the same children tested again as teenagers, only about 5% rated  as highly creative. What happened to them in the interim ?   As they went through school, they were taught that if you want to get along, you follow the crowd. They learned not to question or challenge the teacher or to suggest unusual ideas. In their attempts to be liked and accepted by their peers, they allowed their creativity to die down, like a fire without fuel.  " "All children are artists. The problem is how to remain an artist once they grows up." 　－ 　Pablo Picasso But if we don't use creativity, we lose it. It means that the more we use cre
Read more

Charm of Kenichi Hagiwara - Shoken

From Japanese Movie " Ame no Amsterdam (Rain in Amsterdam)" I've been into the late 1960s to 1970s generation since several years ago. I don't know why but I'm very interested in older generation's people, trends, lifestyle, scenery, habit, TV drama, music, films, etc..   and not so interested in new things much.  There are many new discoveries through checking out old stuff while reading and watching it, which I didn't know before. and about several months ago, I happened to find a youtube video of  a famous Japanese actor called Kenichi Hagiwara who was my favorite actor in 1970s when I was a kid. His nickname is Shoken and he is also a singer of Rock/blues music.                      Shoken( 18 years old) singing ”Legend of Emerald” Shoken was one of the super stars in Japan mainly from the late 60s generation to early 80s. When he was 15 years old,   he joined an amateur music group band called The Tempters as a vocalist.   A
Read more